Penang mulls overhaul of state GLCs

Chow said the state government will only offer the chief executive officer positions in GLCs to professionals in the business and administration fields. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

GEORGE TOWN, Nov 15 — The state government will consider restructuring and reviewing the roles of Penang’s government-linked companies (GLC), the state legislative assembly heard today.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (PH — Padang Kota) said the state government will need to look into GLC functions to avoid overlaps with federal agencies.

“The state government will also strengthen all GLCs so that they are more competitive and to improve their productivity,” he said in reply to an oral question at the state legislative assembly today.

He said the state government will only offer the chief executive officer positions in GLCs to professionals in the business and administration fields.

“Even the prime minister has suggested that the board of directors and GLC heads under the Pakatan Harapan government will not be politicians and will not be given high salaries,” he said.

He said fair salary and bonus packages will be given based on the performance of the respective GLCs.

“This will make the GLC more competitive and at the same time increase the country and state’s income,” he said

Chow also detailed how much the state government allocated to its 11 GLCs: RM24.316 million in 2016, RM27.864 million in 2017, and RM34.995 million this year.

He explained that the allocations rose annually as the GLCs need to execute an increasing number of programmes.

“If we look at PICEB, it is a facilitator to promote Penang as a MICE centre, we allocated RM1.6 million, but if we look at the events it brought to Penang, its economic impact is more than RM1.2 billion,” he said.

He said this meant the Penang International Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PICEB) generated greater economic value than the sum of its allocations.

Of the 11 GLCs, Penang Global Tourism Sdn Bhd received the highest allocations of RM7.36 million in 2016, RM8.36 million in 2017 and RM7.36 million in 2018.

In 2018, George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI), which manages the world heritage site, received an allocation of RM7.2 million, almost double its allocation in 2017 of RM8.36 million.